


Dried Tears

by sugarandbitterblues



Series: Life's Rejects: Interlude [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Original Work
Genre: All pronouns for Lucian, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Half-Elves, Lucian is also a dumb gay oaf who doesn't realize how bad Verin has it for them, Lucian's gender is the muscle, Mutual Pining, Original Player Characters, Other, Platonic Cuddling, Sort Of, Tieflings, Verin Has Nightmares, but is it really platonic????? these are the real questions, you can't really tell that it's mutual pining but it's mutual pining i can assure you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 02:22:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14034078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarandbitterblues/pseuds/sugarandbitterblues
Summary: Lucian doesn't know how to sleep for longer than four hours. That comes in handy when Verin has nightmares all the time.





	Dried Tears

Lucian was used to getting only a few hours of sleep. Even after the most harrowing battles, he could only manage up to four hours a night. In a way, it made him feel safer. She could stay up and keep watch while they were camping out in the middle of nowhere. Sharpen their axe, go on a walk, check in on the rest of his party half a dozen times, scope the surrounding area for monsters. The options were endless.

However, ever since Verin joined the party, Lucian’s nightly ritual of waking up in the middle of the night and/or doing literally anything else but sleep had been interrupted.

The rest of the party wasn’t aware of it, but in the several months they had been traveling together, Lucian had never seen Verin have a good night’s sleep. Every night, the young man was plagued by nightmares. And every night, Lucian could see his face, pain etched into his expression where peace should be. She could hear his quiet sobs, see the way he curled up into a tight ball to protect himself from the invisible foes.

And in the morning, Verin would wake up before the rest of the party, long enough to put on a smile and pretend he was well-rested. It helped that he wasn’t human, so any dark circles he might have had were disguised by his blue skin. When Lucian looked closely, however, she could see the bags underneath his eyes.

It worried Lucian. He wanted to help somehow, but what could he do? Warding spells wouldn’t work considering nightmares weren’t  _ creatures _ . They didn’t know any other spells they could use to make him rest easier. They felt useless.

Still, she did what she could to make Verin’s nights a little bit gentler. She would drape her blanket on Verin to surround him with warmth, keep the fire going a little longer than they should have while they were camping to give him some light. Whatever she could do to make Verin’s slumber just a little bit more peaceful.

One night was different, though.

The party was staying at an inn. With a party of seven, two people could share a room and one could get a room all to themself. Lucian immediately volunteered to share a room with Verin. Even he didn’t know that Lucian was aware of his nightly battle. They knew how important it was to Verin that he didn’t worry the others, so they did their best to keep it under wraps.

Initially, Verin protested, saying he could take the single room. Everyone found that suspicious and started jabbing at him until he finally relented. Lucian had no clue what that was about, but regardless, it made her feel better knowing she could keep an eye on Verin.

That night, Lucian had been doing his nightly prayers to Torm when suddenly Verin shot up. He was panting, sweat coating his skin, his eyes darting around the room.

Lucian got to their feet and slowly walked over to Verin. As they got closer, she noticed that Verin was mumbling in Infernal. His hands crackled with magical energy as he kept trying to find an enemy that wasn’t there.

“Verin?” Lucian said, trying to keep his voice soft. “Are you okay?”

“Where is she?” Verin choked out, his breathing still erratic.

“Who?”

“Th-- the--” He tried to get the words out, but he couldn’t. They were caught in his throat, choked by the emotions running through him.

After a few moments, Verin seemed to realize he was awake. When he did, his breathing began to slow down a little bit, but his breaths were sharper. Lucian sat down in front of him, resting their hands on his shoulders. He was shaking like a leaf in a storm. The magic in his hands only crackled with more energy.

“Take a deep breath,” Lucian whispered. “Keep it in for seven seconds. Breathe out for eight seconds.”

She had Verin breathe several more times. The magic faded away. He was still shaking, but he was at least calm enough to be coherent. He looked up at Lucian and let out a hollow laugh, trying to put on his usual smile.

“This is dumb,” he said, still trying to play it off as a joke. “It was a stupid dream. We’ve dealt with worse than stupid dreams. Don’t worry about me.”

There it was.  _ Don’t worry about me. _ Lucian said it enough times to know when he shouldn’t listen. For a split second, he felt like a hypocrite. Verin was constantly worried about their safety, and Lucian was constantly throwing herself into danger. She always played it off, saying the exact same phrase over and over. But, now wasn’t the time to dwell on those feelings.

Instead of saying anything in response to his blatant attempt to derail the conversation, Lucian simply pulled Verin into a tight hug. Verin seemed to freeze at the sudden affection, unsure of what to do.

“You don’t have to tell me what your nightmare was about,” Lucian breathed softly into his ear as they ran their fingers through Verin’s hair. “Still, I want you to know that I am here for you if you need anything. As is the rest of the party.”

He took Verin’s silence as the signal for him to continue.

“I’m always going to worry about you. Just as you will always worry about me. And I know I’m not… the best with feelings. But, I want you to feel safe with us.”  _ With me _ … “You don’t have to deal with this alone. So, please don’t shut us out?”  _ Don’t shut me out _ . “I want to help you.”

There was more silence and just as Lucian was beginning to think this was a mistake, she felt arms wrap around her waist as Verin began to sob quietly into her shoulder. Lucian did their best to comfort him, keeping him held in their arms as tightly and warmly as they could possibly manage. He wished there was more he could do to help Verin. All they could do was hold him, whisper comforting words, and let him cry.

Lucian didn’t know how much time had passed, but eventually Verin had cried out all of the tears he could. He pulled away from Lucian, and they wiped the remaining tears away from Verin’s cheeks with their sleeve. Their thumb rested on his cheek for a few extra moments. She took the time to admire Verin’s scales, his silver eyes. Even when his eyes were still shining from tears, he was beautiful.

As Lucian’s fingers twitched to move away, Verin leaned in. He closed his eyes, melting into the touch. Lucian froze, unsure of what to do. She couldn’t move away, but she wasn’t sure if she should get closer.

After a few moments of silence, Verin answered their question by taking Lucian’s hand and pulling them down so they were laying next to him.

“Will you stay with me?” he asked. “I… I get less nightmares when I’m with someone.”

At this point, Lucian’s face was burning, but they didn’t acknowledge it. Definitely just an allergic reaction. To the air. They nodded. “O-Of course. Anything to help you sleep easier.”

A small smile graced Verin’s lips, and this time Lucian was able to tell it was a genuine one. He moved a little bit closer and Lucian draped an arm around him. He was so small by comparison. All she wanted to do was protect him.

They quietly rubbed circles in Verin’s back and kept their breathing even until he fell asleep again. It was the first time she had seen him sleep so peacefully. He decided it wouldn’t hurt to rest his eyes. Just for a few minutes, of course.

And it was the first time in a  _ long _ time they were able to have a good night’s rest.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the start of a series of one-shots that take place during my current D&D campaign with a bunch of friends that we've dubbed "Life's Rejects". While most of them are technically not canon, they are loosely based on in-between moments that most likely would happen during the course of the story.
> 
> Though, that doesn't stop me from making some of them canon in the campaign :P
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it and if you have any questions about the campaign or the characters, feel free to ask them and I will answer them as best as I can. I will probably go back and edit this when it's not 3 am.


End file.
